No, you're the one who brought up and changed the subject to tax
breaks. Read back up through the quotes, if you like (I haven't trimmed
them). I merely pointed out that the charitable tax breaks are
nothing, compared to other tax breaks.
But regardless, it's already been established that the US government
has nothing to do with these projects. It's simply the companies
involved who made their investments and are willing to take some level
of initial losses while the market develops. That's no different than
any other market that gets developed for the first time.
I see. Hmm.
Unfortunately, if it were only so simple as price undercutting. They're
turning out so many engineers and scientists because they have a
superior education system to ours here in North America; it's not
merely about babysitting over there. Having grown up in North America,
and having a "Subcontinental" background myself, I've seen the two
education systems. Did you know that they're already learning algebra
In elite schools in big cities that are not exactly the candidates for
OLPC program anyway. The majority of population though lives in rural
areas or city slums and I doubt they have access to such education -
or to clean drinking water, for that matter. Otherwise, why OLPC is
*needed* at all?
by grade 6, and calculus by grade 9 or 10? At that age most North
American students are having a tough time memorizing history, let alone
doing calculus. On top of that, most parents over there are virtually
sitting on top of them to study, and keep studying because its a
disgrace to the family to get a bad mark.
For us boys in USSR there was a much stronger incentive to study - the
Soviet Army, that was about as good as the Soviet prison (GULAG), 2
year sentence - no parole or time off for good behavior. Only full
time students were exempt from conscription, and there was only one
chance given to pass the college entry exam before being called up, so
we studied tail off, and our parents paid through the nose for extra
private lessons. On average there was about 5 candidates per seat. I
passed the exams and made the score. Most of my classmates didn't.
And the same incentive was in force all the way to graduation - the
guys that were dropped off from colleges for academic deficiency were
immediately subject to conscription.
So I can safely say, you
haven't got a clue.
Born and educated in USSR, I've got more of a clue than you might
think. Believe me, we back then started algebra at 5th grade and
calculus at 9th - and ALL schools throughout the country had the same
unified program of studies, except for some elite schools I wasn't
lucky to attend but heard that they did college level classes. And
AFAIK Russians still beat everyone in math, science, and chess
competitions, except maybe Israelis who essentially are the same
Russians. I also spent a few years in a US college (have both USSR and
US engineering degrees) so I can compare, and US school of engineering
(not Ivy League or MIT, but still a respectable university) looks
quite pale next to USSR. US 4 year grads (bachelors) are less
prepared for real world jobs than grads of Soviet analog of community
college (associate degree).
And I'm not sure if you've noticed all of the Indian names at the head
of so many Silicon Valley startups and venture capital outfits, have
you? Providing a lot of jobs to North Americans, I would say.
Not so many Russian names because firstly during Soviet times if one
managed to emigrate, he left with only 2 suitcases of cloths (used
only - new cloths were prohibited for "exporting") and under $100 in
cash - not exactly startup capital. And secondly, college educated
Russians traditionally shunned business, preferring to stay within
their field of technical expertise. But after the Soviet system
collapsed, Russian names slowly started popping up - S. Brin of GOOG,
for one.
The companies that are involved in this venture want to eventually make
a profit from it, they're not doing it for sheer community spirit
alone. I'm sorry you lost your job (we've all lost a few jobs), but you
could've easily lost it to the company down the street, or in the next
state, or even to the company in some other 1st world country. The
outcome wouldn't have been any different for you.
Yet some things drive me mad. I went straight way, and jumped through
all the hoops of US immigration law. The guys from India come on H1
or L1 visas, essentially exploiting the loopholes in the law. AFAIK
H1 requires the employer to prove that there is no qualified citizen
candidate for the job. I can only repeat - there is no shortage of
qualified professionals in the US, there is a shortage of qualified
professionals willing to work for $18/hr 1099. And believe me, if
some Russia-based company stole my job the way the Indian company did,
I'd be just as mad.
NNN